Primora: End of the 3rd Age

The story so far...

…Was set upon by savages and captured through duplicitous means. Thought it best to prove my worth as an aide rather than let them sell me, or kill and eat me. The savages prove to be the remains of the War Dog Pack. Their leader is an ogre magi who had his hands, feet and one of his eyes removed by Convergence, the brutal warlord who’s uniting many of the tribes further south.

Soon, several other (very strange) travelers were captured by the ogre magi’s gnoll warriors and brought in. A catfolk, a nether, a trull, and some undead creature. I may be able to use them to aide in my escape.

The ogre ordered a human girl to be sacrificed to one of the newcomers, the undead. I tried to stop the sacrifice, tried to reason with the creature, but he was a savage monster. More savage than the beings who i was now a prisoner of. There was no way to save the girl, but I tried to kill her quickly, so that she could not be tortured by the beast. He did something to me, cast some spell, prevented me from giving her an easy death and forced me to give her to him. Around that time, something happened in the main room and chaos had erupted. I dropped the undead beast to his death and ran back to the main chamber to see what had happened.
The captives had escaped! The nether was running across the ceiling, the catfolk was fighting for her life, and a drow woman had come in and was causing even more chaos. I tried to get to where they kept my weapons and armor, but the nether lured most of the tribe in that direction. I picked up a fallen tribesman’s long sword and waited for an opportunity.
The catfolk and the drow escaped up a hole in the ceiling and fought off the ogre and many of the other tribesman, the nether had been killed. Several kobolds near me led me out a different tunnel and we escaped.

After escaping the tunnel complex, the kobolds were killed when I managed to meet up with the rest of those that had fled, plus more newcomers. This time a wooden golem with a crossbow for an arm and a small lizardkin.

….Exhausted from the escape, and possibly drugged, I unfortunately do not remember what happened in the next chunk of time.

The next thing I did remember was that we had arrived at an Valanese fort, the lizardkin had disappeared and a young female wizard had joined our merry bad, and the soldiers of the fort were in dire straits. They had little to no food, had suffered from an outbreak of sickness that claimed many of their comrades, had no contact with any of the other forts or Valendale, and expected no reinforcements. They aided us and we agreed to help with a pest problem.
We hunted for the source of the problem and found a cave entrance. A quick scout around found a second entrance and some raptors. After we dispatched them we set up a fire near that entrance with the intention of smoking them out the main entrance where we were set to ambush anything that came running out.
I set the rest of the party up where they would be most useful for the ambush and we quickly dispatched the few raptors that came running and the brood-mother (who was enormous).
We went back to the fort to tell of our success and wait for the massive fire that seemed to keep going inside the caves to die down. We later learned that that the cave was being used to hoard stolen black powder and other equipment from the fort by a traitor.
We also found a ring that, so far, seems to make me immortal.

After talking with the captain of the fort we decided to try to connect with the closest fort, see why communications had ceased, and most likely set the signal tower alight to signal any remaining forts to the danger and Valendale itself to alert them to danger in the south.

On our way the other fort, we were beset upon by a Venom Mouth hunting tribe. We quickly dispatched them with superior Valenese battle tactics and took one hostage to question. We found a map leading to something dark and dangerous, but at a location that was unknown to us. From the hostage we learned that there was still a traitor at the fort.
We sent the second in command back to the fort with the drow to investigate the traitor. Little did I know how bad of a decision that was.

I must have come down with some debilitating mustache disease because I have no recollection of the following few days.

From what I gather from my travelling companions, we arrived at the inn at a crossroads and it was under siege by more Venom Mouth tribesmen. Some people from the inn were putting up a good fight, and with our help, they were quickly cleared.
Unfortunately, the next events are quite vague. We seem to have not really made any friends with the other people at the inn. I hired a “sell sword” (assassin) to scout the main Venom Mouth village. We waited for him to come back, still didn’t make any friends (but at least seemed to make no enemies). Once Neville came back and gave us the rough numbers of the village and we decided to go north to scout the fort, that I believe we were pretty sure was infested with more Venom Mouth warriors.
Before we left, a travelling merchant arrived at the fort and we didn’t ask for any information or purchase any supplies. We also didn’t ask any of the other people at the inn to come with us to assault the fort because we assumed that the …7(?) of us, plus Neville that the golem hired, would be enough to assault a fort manned by many times our number.
Again, I was suffering from a severe case of some rare mustache disease.
We chose to not travel up the road to avoid detection, and instead followed the river most of the way and then cut through the forest. Along the way, we came across many women and children refugees of a village that Convergence had attacked. We, again, asked no questions about anything, like what Convergence was like, where he was last seen, or what his army was like.
We also heard a caravan of Venom Mouth on the road leaving the fort and didn’t investigate, get a sense of their numbers, or possibly set up an ambush. We let them go to conserve our strength for the fort.
As far as I can tell, we went in with no real plan through the west gate and I came to when we were almost in the center of the fort and in the process of getting surrounded by the enemy.

We managed to take out most of the Venom Mouth in the main area, but not before they finished off some of the remaining fort goers….and Steg. He went out like the soldier he was. The Venom Mouth warriors began to man the Scorpions and began firing them at us. I got clipped trying to back up Steg before he was taken down.
Somehow the signal fire was lit (I found out later it was a fey creature who had decided to assist us and snuck in lit the signal fire and then escaped again) and my goal was to keep that fire lit as long as possible.
I was surrounded by a dosen savage dogs and many Venom Mouth warriors backed up by some archers. I focused on defense while my allies fired scorpion bolts into the group. Before long, they were overtaken, but managed to rally and Atilliana saved my life by killing those surrounding me with a blast of cold.
After some more fighting, I noticed that a building looked to be on fire and ready to explode, I fought out of the group that was surrounding me and dove for cover before the building exploded, unfortunately killing Neville. The signal tower crumbled and the fort was set ablaze.

We fled back to the original fort we set out from, but was assaulted by a group of orcs and an ogre. Making quick work of them, we took their leader hostage back to the fort.

A discussion ensued, a deal was struck with the orc, and the Valenese would leave the fort in the hands of the orc, who would ‘join’ Convergence and give information to the Valenese at the fort in the mountains while our group went south to try to bring some of the tribes in as allies against Convergence.

Welcome to Staggra

Troubles to the South

Staggra is a wild and untamed area of Primora deep to the south eastern plains. It is a virtually untouched world of riches. It’s a large area with many different cultures and types of humanoids that call it home. The hills hide veins of precious ore and the grasslands are ripe for farming. There are thousands of rivers and tributaries that supply water throughout Staggra. The south is volcanic at times and prone to earthquakes. Hurricanes are common in the late summer and deep within the southwestern bogs of Staggra there are deadly, toxic swamps where only the Lizardkin can thrive in.

It is very hot year round but unbearable during the summer months. The wildlife is ancient and some quite dangerous. Thunder lizards, dire beasts, poisonous infestations and flies that form bloodsucking clouds to those who do not protect their flesh. The south rains daily and the rivers tend to flood. Fish are bountiful and fruits exotic. Ancient ruins lay hidden within the jungles and sunken beneath lakes. The treasures are incalculable but the risk too high for sane men to explore.

Hundreds of tribes, dozens of languages, numerous gods, goddesses and deities of animals, nature and elements, all found within the many varied cultures that comprise Staggra. It’s a land of the lost. A window back in time to the 1st age of Primora and desperately trying to cling to its way of life.

Known Tribes:

Black Feather: Aloof & solitary hunters of the arid mountains

• First Oracle: Stillwind
• Wayfinder Oracle: Mourning Mae
(this is all that could be learned from O’anna, the Howling Swarm captive)

They live high up in the mountains, scavenging lost antiquities and observing the world around them. As one of the oldest tribes in Staggra, they have seen the rise & fall of many warlords. It’s long been established that the “death of tribes” was a foregone conclusion. An Armageddon of sorts but not in literature annihilation but more in the demise of their way of life. Civilization is inevitable and the Black Feather tribe sadly acknowledges their fate. They are few now and look to pass quietly into obscurity, not willing to take sides in the current conflict.

They trade with the Valanese for medicine, weapons, apparel & tobacco, sending envoys once per season to the north and exchange goods with the Valenese. Black Feather are bizarre mystics & “mist people” who seemingly disappear like ghosts and have earned the respect and fear of the other tribes with their strange and macabre ways.

The Howling Swarm are religious fundamentalists who worship the way of the hive, insects, poisons & oddly enough, plants. The migrated to the mainland after a massive hurricane wiped out their island home roughly 175 years ago and merged with a primitive wood elven community in a nearby jungle. There is no room for interpretation of the word of the Hive Mother, the entity that they worship as a goddess; her word is law and they follow it with ofttimes terrifying results.

Ritual sacrifice is a grim holdover from their early days upon the island. The Hive Mother is rarely satisfied and requires blood and pain to slake her anger at the world. Her rage was borne of the exile from Elysium within the Dreamsea – cast out for challenging the will of Gaia, the Earth Mother.

The Swarm have lost a great deal of numbers over the years from various wars with other tribes and slow birth rate of the wood elven comrades. They fear their days are growing numbered and with the Rise of Convergence, they feel all the more pressure to fight for their very survival. He is seen as a heretic and fraud – parading himself as a God and spitting upon the ancient ways of Staggran culture. The Swarm sees him as an interloper and false idol and would love for nothing else to see him sacrificed upon their alter… would if they even had such power.

Slave traders, pirates, and all around thugs. They steal everything not locked down and kidnap other tribesmen, travelers and whomever for ransom. They live near the coasts and control the beaches along the Wayfound Sea are the main exporter of Trull slaves.

They are not a very large tribe but their numbers are all spit & vinegar, as to become a member, you have to first prove yourself as a pirate and second, be borne from a bloodline of the the native islanders. Anything less walks the plank and feeds the sharks that they worship as underworld gods.

Shadow Pride are legendary Amazons renown for their prowess in combat and unsurpassed effectiveness at nighttime warfare. They are quick, agile, expert trackers and deadly marksmen. Their skills rival that of most elven cultures for slipping within the shadows of the treeline and high grasses and have earned them the elven title, Lunafera Ve’ Phyennathol , which translates to “Queens of the Wild moon”.

Shadow Pride are the second largest and most active tribe currently. Their numbers reportedly are close to 80 thousand, with almost 20 thousand of those being able bodied combatants They practice a strict matriarchy where young boys are sent to the Feral Plains, a protected valley to the south eastern cliffs, where they train to fight & die for their Lioness queens. Only those who embark on a perilous and complicated quest to bring their tribe honor are free to become a husband and earn the opportunity to gain wealth. For the rest, they train like savage beasts and impatiently wait like caged tigers for their chance to hunt within the darkness.

At the moment, two powerful sisters are squabbling over who will lead when their warlord father dies. He is old and sickened with apparent poison from betrayers within their midst, agents of Convergence embedded to sow chaos among their ranks. So the tribe is experiencing a vacuum of power until the heir arises, but per the promise made to their mysterious father, neither sister can spill one another’s blood directly. So they scheme and plot and pit their warriors against each other to gain the upper hand.

Baya the Widower is a brute tactics using berserker and has the allegiance of the Feral Guard as well as the ranger squads.

Kaschi’Amalah is a cunning strategist and sleight of hand master who uses her guile, charm as well as her assassins to get what she wants. She also has the loyalty of the archers and shamans.-———————————————————————————————————————-Broken Claw Tribe: Original inhabitants of Staggra

Broken Tooth: the Bear men. Humans & hill dwarves comprise the largest tribe in Staggra. Over 150 thousand people spread out over the forests, hills and plains. Many communities and villages who live almost autonomously; each have their own leader who answers to a king warlord. They would be tough to take down were it not for their disorganization, arrogance & pride. They haven’t been attacked decades and have grown dismissive of the thought of conflict, therefore their warriors have dropped to at best 40 thousand over the huge expanse of their territories.

Ursa’Eckhardt, your kind hearted Skinwalker cleric who prefers his bear form to anything else, shares his thoughts on his own tribe liberally. He grew up in the central territory of his people’s homeland but upon maturity, set out to the Dale of Valen with his father, who was an acting ambassador representing his tribe to the northmen. He was left within the Order of Illuvataur for his own safety. His father knew that his son was gifted with the ability to shift into alternate forms but because he was touched by the grace of a Goddess not accepted within the Broken Claw tribe, his life could be in peril.

Ursa explains that his people are fiercely independent and rarely trade with the other tribes anymore, but prefer to trade with the dwarves and occasionally the Dale. He also is embarrassed that his people are also terrible towards their own women and treat them as objects as opposed to equal partners within the tribal hierarchy. It’s for that reason that he returns home less & less these days. Well that and the fear of war from the Horde.

He also drops a bombshell of a revelation upon the group: Each animal tribe has a powerful spirit animal guarding them! THEY are the totems Convergence has been destroying. Not sculptures or monoliths and what have you, but things. Powerful things. Creatures from beyond our plane of existence with ties to the Dreamsea as well as the greater goddess Gaia. He’s not sure how it all pieces together but eliminating these entities is high on Convergence’s list of priorities.

Tribes that are no more

• Venom Mouth: cannibals, psychopaths, sadists and drug addicts. They are despised everywhere and by everyone and have recently be annihilated by the Horde for daring to question their rule.

• War Dog Pack: once a noble tribe that had fallen from prominence. Poor leadership, inability to cultivate their resources and picking fights with bigger, meaner dogs has rendered this tribe irrelevant and extinct though their Dire Wolf spirit was reportedly not destroyed when Convergence came knocking. Where it went is anyone’s guess but the group is sure it will turn up.

• Dragon Maw: A lizardkin tribe destroyed by Convergence for reasons that are unknown. It happened quickly and violently several years ago and no record of what transpired is available, save for the lone survivor, Chalchiuiton aka Nago.

• Wolf Spider: A small cave tribe of wild orks assimilated by Convergence in his first campaign 10-12 years ago. They have served him semi-loyally since after he destroyed the Giant Spider Nezaholth in single, one-on-one combat.

• Plague Rat: A mid sized tribe of river-men assimilated by Convergence roughly 2 years ago. They in fact requested to join after their Rat King was killed by a dwarven expeditionary force looking for a passage through their territory. After joining his force, the dwarves quickly returned to their homes within Carboncinder with no further thoughts of expansion.